Devices that perform certain functions in response to sounds such as singing, whistling, ringing bells or voicing commands are known in the art. These devices are used, for example, in toys and appliances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,695, “Sound Controllable Apparatus Particularly Useful in Controlling Toys and Robots”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an apparatus for controlling a device according to different sound commands. The apparatus comprises a microphone, a processor and a control system. The apparatus is capable of interpreting different commands, which may be a word, combinations of words, beeps, hand-claps and whistles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,371, “Robot-Like Toy Vehicle”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a robot-like toy that reverses the direction of its movement in response to a loud sound, such as a hand clap, or a call.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,184, “Remote-Control Doll Assembly”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a doll that raises its arms and cries in responds to sounds made by squeezing a toy baby bottle or by squeezing a pressure-sensitive rattle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,007, “Toy having a Melody-Making Mechanism of a Sound-Detection Type”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a toy such as a stuffed doll, having a melody-making mechanism which responds to external sounds such as human voice or a hand clap.
These sound-control devices rely on sounds generated by a specific action of the user, for example, by pronouncing a word, clapping hands or squeezing a pressure-sensitive rattle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,286, “Multiple Activation Crib Toy”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a crib toy that provides musical output and predetermined motions of a plurality of cartoon-like figures. The crib toy contains several noise-producing apparatuses (a rattle, a horn button and a center button) that are an integral part of the crib toy. The crib toy is activated by sounds. The sounds may be ambient sounds or specific sounds produced by an infant manipulating the noise-producing apparatuses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,696, “Sound Activated Mobile”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a mobile that is activated by the sounds in its vicinity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,034, “Mobile for Infants”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a sound-producing mobile and cassette player that are activated by sounds from the crib, and respond with comforting voices via a loudspeaker and movement of the mobile.
These sound-control devices rely on ambient sound which may come from the baby, but may come from other sources as well, so their response is not necessarily specific to the baby.
Toys that respond to other toys are described for example in the above described U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,184, “Remote Control Doll Assembly” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,286, “Multiple Activation Crib Toy”. U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,336, “Toy and Method Providing Audio Output Representative of Message Optically Sensed by the toy”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference describes a toy capable of optically detecting and recognizing specific markings on objects, and articulating a word, a phrase or a sentence in response to the markings. In this way the toy may “read” and “speak”. The markings may be visible codes, invisible codes or holograms.
Toys and devices that respond to sounds by body motion are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,380, “Body-Motion Activated Crib Mobile”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a mobile that is activated by an infant's motion, utilizing a passive infrared sensor detects the body motion.
Toys that respond to a direction a sound are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,376, “Voice-Responsive Doll eye Mechanism”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, which describes a doll having a mechanism that provides eye rotation when a child speaks to the doll, to simulate a human response.